1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communication networks, and in particular, to a system that enforces a communication architecture in a communication network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Communication service providers provide their communication services by utilizing many network devices such as switches and multiplexers. The organization and management of a communication network is critical due to numerous communication services and a variety of network devices. The International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) has developed a standard to delineate the provisioning of the communication service into layers. This standard is called the Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) standard.
FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a system that includes Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) layers 100 in the prior art. The TMN layers 100 are separated into a service management 110, a network management 120, a network element management 130, and a network element layer 140. The service management 110 provides customer interfaces, interacts with other services, and interacts with the network management 120. The network management 120 manages all the network elements using the network management capabilities presented by the network element management 130. The network element management 130 manages all the specific network elements in the network element layer 140.
The Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture Consortium (TINA-C) developed a TINA architecture to support multimedia and multipoint communication sessions. In this TINA architecture, the TINA-C developed a model to handle the network management 120 and network element management 130. This model is called the Network Resource Information Model (NRIM) Specification. The NRIM provides the following network resource management functions: Network Topology Configuration Management, Connection Management, Fault Management, and Accounting Management.
FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a communication network in the prior art. In FIG. 2, the communication service manager 210 provides the management of communication services. The communication service manager 210 exchanges commands with the control interface 220 to control the provisioning of the communication service through the network devices 232, 234, and 236. The control interface 220 translates the commands to the protocols of the network devices 232, 234, and 236.
One problem is the network devices are built with varying protocols and standards by various manufactures. The service logic in the communication service manager 210 then includes vendor-dependent commands and protocols. Thus, the service logic is not portable using different network devices. Also, modifications and enhancements to the network devices commands and protocol have to be duplicated in the service logic. Another problem is the network architectures such as TMN layers and NRIM are not enforced. Network devices and service logic then do not have to comply with the standards set out in the TMN layers and the NRIM architecture. More generally, secondary service logic modifies element configuration/state without notifying the primary service logic, which invalidates the “resource” view maintained by the primary service logic.